China and their efforts to test the perimeters of U.S. military establishments continue, this time they visited the 49th state, Alaska. USA Today reported how “Chinese citizens posing as tourists … blew past a security checkpoint at Fort Wainwright, Fairbanks.” As the story goes, the vehicle was eventually corralled on base and the vehicle searched. Inside the vehicle the military found a drone. When asked what they were up to, etc., they responded “they were tourists who had gotten lost.” Even Maxwell Smart could have come up with a better cover story, but these Chinese Secret Squirrel wannabees, stuck to their guns. One Army officer told USA Today that “not all who appear to be tourists are tourists” and in fact are “foreign spies.”
Déjà vu – NAS Key West
The date was January 4, 2020 when two Chinese nationals approached the restricted access entrance to NAS Key West and were told to make a u-turn and depart. They drove forward and then took off. It took NAS personnel 30 minutes to put an end to their drive-about. They were found to be carrying photographic equipment which had been used to take pictures of many structures within the Sigbee Annex of the NAS. In 2019, two additional similar incidents had occurred at the NAS by Chinese nationals.
Déjà vu – NAS Oceana
In 2019, a vehicle full of Chinese citizens, including two diplomats, presented themselves at the checkpoint entrance and were told to make a U-turn. They proceeded and then put the pedal to the metal and the chase was on. They too were eventually corralled when their path was blocked by base fire trucks. When confronted, they claimed to have been confused due to lack of linguistic capability and misunderstood the guard’s instructions. The two diplomats were declared persona non grata by the State Department.
This incident put China in the restricted movement category and from that point forward, the Chinese Embassy was instructed to ask for “travel permission” for any trip which would take the member of the mission beyond 25 mile radius of the Embassy.
Déjà vu – Mara Lago
In March 2019, a Chinese woman wandered onto the Maralago compound. When she was arrested, she had on her body and in her vehicle “an electronics smorgasbord of devices – hidden camera signal detector, four cell phones, laptop, external drives and a thumb drive which contained malware. “
Note for the FSO
The cost of being brazen appears to be less of an issue for the Chinese who apparently believe that the downside of being apprehended is that they get escorted off the base to try another day. Brief your facilities security personnel to keep visitors on the outside of the security perimeter, even if they look innocuous. The Chinese Secret Squirrel playbook of base intrusions has been written and issued. We will see this M.O. again and again giving us many more déjà vu moments.
